Thursday, March 29, 2007

Women Get Paid Less

Not really a rock your world headline, but Jory Des Jardins' angle is.

Digging deeper, Babcock found that, of the graduates surveyed, 57 percent of the men negotiated for a higher salary, but only 7 percent of the women did. And of the graduates who did negotiate, they increased their salaries 7.4 percent--nearly an identical discrepancy to the difference between men's and women's salaries.

Women ask for less. Jory goes on to explain why that is. It's more than men holding us back or women not just asking for more. The discrimination starts at our desks.

Neale, the co-author of Negotiating Rationally and Power and Influence in Organizations is a full-fledged negotiation expert who has studied the conditions under which they are most effective.

And data shows that hiring managers are likely to be more turned off by women who ask for more money than by men who do. But get this: FEMALE hiring managers are more turned off by it than men.

This could be because women may be imposing their own issues with asking for more money onto female candidates, Neale says. But with this reality in mind, how do women get what they need out of negotiations?

Note: Jory has the links to the originals. Click through to her article for more.

It's a great eye-opener, especially if you are negotiating a new job or a raise.

1 comment:

Page Smith said...

I'd like to see a study about the difference between male and female authors. Who is really finishing their novels and getting them out there?

Listen to the radio: it's mostly men on the radio. More men than women are finishing their projects, getting a record contract, and getting air time on the radio. Most successful screenwriters are men, etc. It's the same in most art forms.

Writing groups and conferences tend to have slightly more women than men - but who is really cranking out the work that's of publishable quality? I don't know, but it's something to think about.

Men are expected to be the main bread winners all of their lives - a position that women often find themselves in by default. I think that (generally speaking) men may have a slightly different view of writing because it is ingrained in them (and our culture) that they need to create a product - and get it out there. Rightly or wrongly, I don't think most women even expect that from themselves.

I'm certainly not saying anything bad about women. I just wonder how much our culture is affecting our personal abilities to create a product and get it out into the marketplace to compete.

Go on, flame me if you want to.